PROTECT: Protect migrant healthcare workers: closing a gap in Germany’s pandemic preparedness and global health policy

Interdisciplinary Pilot Project

PROTECT is supported by the German Alliance for Global Health Research – GLOHRA , with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research – BMBF. It is a collaboration between Hannover Medical School and University Medicine Göttingen, Germany, and Public Health, Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania, lasting from May 2022 until April 2023.

Protecting migrant healthcare workers (HCWs) is an important dimension of pandemic preparedness. This pilot project introduces a ‘syndemic’ approach to COVID-19 with a focus on higher-skilled; it connects health policy/system and actor-centred approaches. The study investigates perceptions and needs of migrant HCWs, drawing on survey data gathered at Hannover Medical School and in-depth qualitative research with Romanian physicians in Germany, and explores policy solutions. It aims to improve migrant HCW protection and contribute to effective health workforce policy and European/global responses to HCW shortage and resilience.

News

Fifth Global Forum on Human Resources for Health 3-5 April 2023

Advancing the understanding of circular migration as an effective and equitable mechanism for health workforce retention and motivation
Organiser: Marius Ungureanu, Babes Bolyai University, Romania & EUPHA section Health Workforce Research (EUPHA-HWR)

Health workforce migration: exploring circular migration bottom-up

Invitational workshop: Migration patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic: findings from an interview study with
Romania physicians in Germany
Ellen Kuhlmann & PROTECT project team

Migrant healthcare workers in Germany: hidden inequalities in a high-resourced health system with effective COVID-19 pandemic governance

Webinar 14 March 2023
GLOHRA PROTECT & EUPHA-HWR & Babes-Bolyai University

Migrant healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: why we should worry about health systems and governance

Webinar, 14 March 2023, 2.00-3.00 p.m. CET (Brussels)

Registration required!

Migrant healthcare workers during COVID-19: bringing an intersectional health system-related approach into pandemic protection. A German case study (pre-print)

Ellen Kuhlmann, Marius Ionut Ungureanu, Georg Behrens, Anne Cossmann, Sandra Klawitter, Leonie Mac Fehr, Marie Mikuteit, Frank Mueller, Nancy Thilo, Monica Georgina Brinzac, Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka

Session at GLOHRA Academy Series for early career researchers

Dr. Ellen Kuhlmann: Health workforce research: why we need global health and feminist approaches

GLOHRA Poster

We presented our project at this year's GLOHRA Day 2022

Guest lecture at Babeș-Bolyai University by Dr. Kuhlmann

Dr. Ellen Kuhlmann visited Cluj-Napoca and held a guest lecture titled: "Migrant health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic: How to improve health workforce protection and policy learning?"
She was joined by PROTECT team members Dr. Marius Ungureanu and Monica Brînzac, MSc
following a vibrant discussion with the students of Babeș-Bolyai University

Hannover Medical School

[Translate to Englisch:] Porträtbild von Ellen Kuhlmann

Dr. Ellen Kuhlmann

Team lead, Senior researcher

- kuhlmann.ellen@mh-hannover.de
- Ellen Kuhlmann, holds a PhD (sociology) and Master Public Health and has clinical experience as specialised nurse in anaesthesiology/intensive care. Currently she is senior researcher at Hannover Medical School, Clinic for Rheumatology and Immunology, and president of the European Public Health Association section “Health Workforce Research”. She is a member of health workforce advisory groups of WHO and WHO Euro/ASPHER and has been member of the past GLOHRA Steering Board. Her research focuses on comparative health policy, the health workforce, and gender equality/SDG5 from an intersectional perspective.

About

Prof. Dr. Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka

Team lead, Senior physician Rheumatology/ Immunology

- jablonka.alexandra@mh-hannover.de
- Alexandra Dopfer Jablonka, is a professor for internal medicine at Hannover Medical School, Clinic for Rheumatology and Immunology. She also holds a degree in health economics and is a consultant in rheumatology. She is part of the German Center for Infection Research. Her research focusses on refugee and migrant health, health workforce in rheumatology, COVID-19 and Long COVID.

[Translate to Englisch:] Porträtbild von Leonie Mac Fehr

Leonie Mac Fehr, MSc

Team member, Research assistant

- fehr.leonie@mh-hannover.de
- Leonie Mac Fehr holds a master's degree in Global Health from Maastricht University and is a medical student at Hannover Medical School with a special interest in racism in medicine, minorities health, planetary health, and global health workforce.

University Medical Center Göttingen

[Translate to Englisch:] Porträtbild von Frank Müller

Dr. Frank Müller

Team lead, Senior physician General Medicine

- frank.mueller@med.uni-göttingen.de
- Frank Müller, is a medical doctor, sociologist, and urban designer by training. He is currently Peter C. and Pat Cook Endowed Clinical Research Fellow at Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is affiliated with Michigan State University and University Medical Center Göttingen. His research focuses on migration and health, health inequality, and multilingual digital interventions. Publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9496-9423

Nancy Thilo, MA

Team member, Researcher

- nancy.thilo@med.uni-goettingen.de
- Nancy Thilo, has a Diploma in Social Pedagogy and a Master Degree in Social Sciences. She has experiences as social worker and journalist for several years. Currently she is a researcher at the Department of General Practice, University Medical Center Göttingen, and a doctoral student at the Ulm University in Baden-Württemberg. She is a member of the German Network for Evidence-Based Medicine.

About

Babeș-Bolyai University

Dr. Marius Ungureanu

Project collaborator, Head of department

- marius.ungureanu@publichealth.ro
- Marius I. Ungureanu, MD, PhD is leading the Department of Public Health and Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy, both at the Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences within the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
  Dr. Ungureanu has been trained as a medical doctor, and has completed his training with a master degree in health care management and a PhD in healthcare quality management. He has served as Adviser to the Health Minister, Chief of Staff to the Health Minister, and Secretary of State (Deputy Minister) for Romania’s Ministry of Health.

Monica Brînzac, MSc

Project collaborator, Graduate research assistant

- monica.brinzac@publichealth.ro
- Monica Georgiana Brînzac PhD(c), holds two master's degrees in Healthcare Management and in Science, Technology and Innovation in Governance and a bachelor's degree in Public Health. Currently, she is a Research Assistant in the Department of Public Health, Babeș-Bolyai University, working on the health workforce, digital health, public health issues and serving as Deputy Director of Center for Health Workforce Research and Policy. She is a member of the Local Ethic Committee for Scientific Study Protocols WHO Romania country office and the EUPHAnxt coordinator for the European Public Health Association.